#MusicMonday with Stephen Ellrod

First #MusicMonday Article! Let’s Go!

     When we are young we imagine ourselves to be rockstars, actors, firefighters, and astronauts. Let me introduce you to someone who actually is making his dream as a kid, a reality.  From performing to the most important audience, his mother and grandmother, to pursue selling out stadiums with the ability to have his greatest audience sit in the front row, instead of the couch. What his name you ask? 

     At 9 years old with a 90s echoing microphone Stephen Ellrod knew he wanted to make music and perform, after finding out the harsh reality he couldn’t be Like Mike (Michael Jordan).  He wanted to move the audience, make the audience go wild just like Justin Timberlake and in Casa de Ellrod he made that dream a reality with a sold out show of only 2 fans, his mom and grandmother. Between creating melodies, writing lyrics, and singing he thought he was the greatest singer ever.  The confidence he projected made that very true, as well as his voice and do not let him make you think otherwise.

     With a supportive and a musically inclined family he had a lot of help learning how to play different instruments.  Looking up to his father and brothers instrumentally and his mother vocally he learned how to play the guitar, drums, and how to sing.  Only at 14 had he learned how to play drums because he wanted to hang out with his brothers and be in their band.  Talk about great family bonding! When it came to reading music that didn’t come until high school, he relied on feeling the music and being able to match the pitch to bring music to a higher sensation.

     As Stephen got older he started creating, writing, and singing more.  Right now he says his strong suit is creating melodies, that is what happens when your musically in tune.  When it come down to writing lyrics his new learning habit is he takes the same concept and tries to tell the story in a few different ways until he knows whats right.  Surrounding himself with others on the same path and mindset he is also learning new methods.  When choosing his friends he decides to stay with people who will be able to be stuck in a studio for hours at a time and still come out with a smile, which is the most important part of making music.  As great as someone can be it is not worth the misery.

     Everyone goes through hardships, one of the hardest moment for Stephen was losing friends when he moved to Nashville to pursue his dream.  Even though it's hard to get over things like that, he realize that those moments with those people made him who he is today.  Everything he goes through, life events, struggles, even a crazy night are all influences and ideas for him to write down and create music that he wants to show the world.

   ***Article has been updated.  Last time, Stephen and I talked he was writing for other musicians, and is still working on his own.  You can see him having a feature by just searching him up on YouTube